On Valentines Day, more than any other day, you've probably felt The But.

No, not that butt. I'm talking about the "I love you, BUT..." That but.

See we humans have an unnatural fixation with perfection; we like to find fault.

And not content with worrying about if someone is absolutely perfect for us, we add extra stress to the situation by worrying how everyone else will feel. Will my mother like him/her? Will my mates get on with her/him? Will it work out long term?

I've realised that we don't just mess our heads up adding buts to perfectly good relationships. Nope, we do it in our homes too.

"I just LOVE that wallpaper... BUT... I'd never have it in my home", Sound familiar?

I do it a lot. Here's three times my head has ruled my heart in the home department.

1) Concrete walls

Image from shelterness.com

I've had a love affair with concrete for some time now. It's the perfect fashionable grey colour - the inspiration for a thousand expensive paint shades. But better than paint it has depth and character and a heap of urban edge.

BUT deep down I know that for me concrete is to lust after, not to live with. Maybe it's too cool for me. It's a city thing and I'm a country girl at heart? Oh I don't know, we're just not meant to be together. This is the interior fixation I like to admire form afar.

2) Minimalism

This is a love I reserve only for hotel rooms. I adore the sophistication, the sense of luxury and the business like order. It's the Christian Grey of interior crushes. Dominant, disciplined... fucking infuriatingly clean. My home life is nothing like this and of course that's entirely the appeal.

3. Cotterill cool

Marriane Cotterill interior from debitrloar.com

Of all the style flirtations that I can't fully commit to, this one pains me the most. Marianne Cotterill is my absolute favourite interior designer. Her opulent and exaggerated use of colour and print; the way she indulges in historical reference and makes it thoroughly modern; the refusal to adhere to any textbook design rules whatsover... OMG, I am totally and utterly hooked.

And yet whilst I dream and I dabble, I haven't yet found the guts to wildly wallpaper a whole sitting room or reupholster a sofa in velvet flock.

BUT... every time I encounter the Cotterill Effect, something stirs deep inside that tells me, eventually, the urge will get me in the end.

Is that what you call the power of love? Oh God, I think I better stop now before I burst into a ballad.

What interior styles are you finding hard to resist? Let me know your guilty design secrets below, I would love to hear from you.